France have been rocked by the news that Liverpool striker Djibril Cisse has been ruled out of the World Cup after fracturing his right tibia in a friendly against China in St Etienne.

Cisse collapsed in agony after colliding with China captain Zhi Zheng in the 11th minute of a match that France won 3-1.

He was eventually carried off on a stretcher with his leg attached to a splint.

France coach Raymond Domenech said: "Cisse went straight to the hospital where he was operated on. He has an open fracture of the tibia."

Cisse has scored nine goals in 30 games for France but Domenech must now call up a replacement, with Fenerbahce's Nicolas Anelka and Barcelona's Ludovic Giuly in the frame.

With the injury hanging over them, France were unimpressive last night and were grateful to substitute Franck Ribery, who sparked a late rally as France netted twice in the closing stages.

First, the Marseille winger's cross from the left was comically shinned past his own goalkeeper on the volley by China defender Wang Yun.

Seconds later, Ribery played a neat one-two with Thierry Henry. And, although he was beaten to the return by visiting keeper Li Leilei, the ball fell nicely for Henry to roll into the empty net from 30 yards.

Earlier, David Trezeguet, Cisse's replacement, put the hosts ahead, only for Zhi to level from the spot.

Zinedine Zidane, making his last appearance in his native France before retiring after the World Cup, also missed a first-half penalty.

* AUSTRALIA - without Boro duo Mark Schwarzer and Mark Viduka - needed two late goals to beat minnows Liechtenstein in their final World Cup warm-up game.

The Socceroos fell behind after eight minutes in Ulm, when Blackburn defender Lucas Neill misdirected a clearing header and only succeeded in putting it past his own goalkeeper Zeljko Kalac.

Mile Sterjovski equalised 12 minutes later but it took the Aussies until 15 minutes from full-time to confirm their superiority when substitute Josh Kennedy headed home.

Former Coventry and Portsmouth striker John Aloisi made it 3-1 after 82 minutes by tapping in from close range.

Harry Kewell played the first hour in a bid to prove his fitness ahead of the Aussies' first World Cup group F encounter against Japan on Monday.

* FERNANDO Torres struck an injury-time winner as Spain concluded their build-up with a hard-fought 2-1 victory against fellow qualifiers Croatia in Geneva.